Heard on the Street: Opportunity Zones, bringing public art to Buffalo, small business succession planning, and more!

Opportunity Zones: Moving Toward a Shared Impact Framework: “What is certain is that Opportunity Funds are another tool in the community development tool kit — primarily for state and local players — and they underscore the importance of place-based investment. The tax benefit will drive capital to the nation’s most distressed areas, but the activities that capital supports must be rooted in a local context.”

How to Build a Rust Belt Art Boom: “In a city neatly segregated by its street grid, artists…bring contemporary, internationally identifiable murals to the city’s East Side—the hub of black culture in today’s Buffalo, laced with the lingering traces of the Polish community that has mostly resettled in the suburbs.”

Most small business owners lack a succession plan: “Because a small business owner often built their company from the ground up it can be hard for him or her to discuss succession. In fact, 58% of small business owners have no succession plan, according to a study of 200 privately held businesses by Wilmington Trust.”